It's my birthday today and for most people celebration time means feasting on so called "bad" food. However, as its that special time of the year they put aside any feelings of guilt and allow themselves a treat.

Actually this tends to happen all year round as people crave the cake, battle with feelings about the cake, give in and eat the cake, wish they hadn't even met the cake, deny knowing the cake, and so the cycle continues. Cake is a love hate relationship!!

I've written extensively in the past about cake cravings, from Ancel Key's work on human starvation to my observations of the amount of cupcake companies popping up in our starved world.

Now before we go any further lets clear something up, I'm often viewed as;

"the food police"

Whilst I'm often the health detective that is tracking down issues in the diet and lifestyle of those who consult with me, I'm far from the diet nazi that people assume. Their is only one crime in my book and that is starvation!!

As you will of read previously, starvation leads to a whole host of complaints but the one that causes people the most upset is cravings. Most of the people I've consulted with are happy to deal with most of their low calorie symptoms (emotional issues, hair-loss, etc etc) but they hate the lack of willpower and the fact that they give in to cravings.

Do I eat cake? Rarely, and then its always a "healthier" version thats homemade. But theirs a reason why I simply do not desire shop bought cakes.

I eat a lot of good food. Cravings are our bodies response to restriction. According to Levin Pelchat, (2009)

"It may be the way in which foods are consumed (e.g. alternating access and restriction) rather than their sensory properties that leads to an addictive eating pattern."

In other words, our avoidance of food in general may be the thing that leads us to crave the food we wish we could avoid.

So, I have nothing against cake and if that was all I had then I'd eat it. Equally if I was starving I'd eat it and I'd feel no guilt about it. If however I'm well fed, not only on good food but also enough food. Then I'm unlikely to want either much cake or indeed any at all. No willpower involved, just a fulfilled appetite.

Anyway, thanks for the many birthday messages, if your craving cake just eat it. Then tomorrow when you wake up think about eating enough all day so that cravings don't appear.

References

Levin Pelchat, (2009) "It may be the way in which foods are consumed (e.g. alternating access and restriction) rather than their sensory properties that leads to an addictive eating pattern."

In 1912 Elsie Scheel was dubbed "the most nearly perfect specimen of womanhood. She ate beef steak, avoided tea and coffee and was the strongest of 400 women tested at Cornell University by Dr. Esther Parker. At 77.5 kg (171 lbs) and 5' 7" tall she had similar proportions to the Venus de Milo.You can bet that she also didn't suffer and physical or mental health issues, unlike those hooked on the modern starve to be skinny lifestyle.

The Concentration or "Auschwicz" plan may seem far fetched and unlikely, but you probably know people who engage in exercise, even extreme amounts of exercise, marathon, boot camps, training every day, training more than an hour etc. They probably also under eat, either knowingly or unknowingly.

So, imagine my glee this morning when I received an advert to join a boot camp. The diet that people were advised to consume was;

Go for a protein-rich breakfast of eggs, as the body uses more calories to digest protein• Portion control. It's easy to overeat, especially with high protein meals. Aim to reduce your intake at every meal by up to 45 per cent.• Aim to consume 1,000 calories a day - enough to encourage weight loss without affecting basal metabolic rates.• Limit fruit to two portions a day.

I think they seriously believe that its good to eat something with the intention that the effort of eating it will leave you as empty, as if you never consumed it in the first place. Its like drinking a diet soda because you need energy even though it technically has no energy. Or the stupid "eat celery because it takes more calories to digest than it actually contains" comment. Two PT's I had the good fortune to work with at VA even thought that celery contained no calories what so ever. Possibly the best argument I've ever been in.

Next up the recommendation to reduce your intake by 45% at each meal. Seriously, this is insane. Firstly you should eat enough to satisfy your appetite (appetite is a wonderful indicator of what your body needs). Secondly this fails to take into account what the current breakfast is. We may have a serial dieter that already only eats an apple for breakfast, yet now she is condemned to 45% less of the apple.

Then its recommended to consume only 1000 calorie a day so that it won't effect the metabolic rate. Now anyone whose ever spoke with me or read my blog should know that this is farcical. Again this fails to take into account the metabolic needs of the individual. Expect a host of symptoms;

• Some escaped and binged with feelings of guilt (some followed by vomiting)

Social Activities

• Responsiveness, tolerance, happiness, and good humor gradually disappeared, very irritable and with only sarcastic humor remaining.

• Reluctance to participate in group activities. Not wanting to go to work etc and when they do resorting to the above.

• Self-centered and egocentric

• Food becomes a central topic of conversation, such as the need to cut back, avoid fats, craving cake or chocolate and discussing it with ones friends.

• Not able to control emotions, tears, tantrums, anger are all hard to control on a LCD.

Next up we are told to limit fruit to two portions a day. Poor old fruit, full of vitamins and minerals, a great way to get natural sugars is out of the window and condemned. Stuff that, enjoy the fruit and eat it as often as you like!!!

30 grams of margarine is anywhere between 127 calories and 212 calories (remember margarine used to be more nutritious than it is now.

125 grams of cheese (call it cheddar just for the sake of argument) has around 504 calories.

So calorie intake in December 1942 was possibly somewhere between 1,797 and 1,913 calories. The American College of Sports Medicine currently advocates less for those looking to lose weight, oh and when you begin starving yourself you should also make sure you exercise at least 3 days per week but preferably 5 times for 30 mins.

A cardiovascular exercise program of a minimum of 3 days per week, 20 - 30 minutes per session. Ideally, a 5 day per week 30 minute per session (or 150 minutes of cumulative exercise per week) should be performed. Additionally, there may be additional benefits in progressively increasing exercise to 200 - 300 (3.3 – 5 hrs) per week. The program should be at a minimum of 60% HRmax in otherwise healthy individuals.

A diet that provides a minimum of 1200 calories per day for normal adults to meet nutritional requirements

The diet should include food that is acceptable to the individual in terms of nutritional needs, sociocultural background, taste, cost, and ease of acquisition and preparation.

The exercise part of boot camp involved;

People generally join for 2 to 12 weeks. Some even stay up to 6 months! How does my training schedule look like?Early Morning starts with a Yoga class for an hour before the 'real' work begins.The boot camp training consists of 5 days a week cardio in the morning, using highly advanced techniques which last for an 1 1/2 hours.Next is group weight lifting and body sculpture sessionsfrom 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m and 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Hard to know how this compares to hard labour in a concentration camp, but its certainly excessive even for someone whose not on a restricted diet.

So their you go, the extreme end of it is that someone could be doing 7 1/2 hours of exercise a day on 1000 calories. Now this may be an extreme version but don't forget lots of people are doing mini versions...eating low calorie and going running. Joining a gym and going low carb etc.

Ancel Keys, of the University of Minnesota provided us with his amazing study in which his subjects lived in a dorm at the University of Minnesota. As previously described their diet was restricted and they were required to walk 22 miles a week (4.4 miles per day if you go for the ACSM exercise 5 times per week). Not the biggest amount of exercise when you compare it to most current recommendations for weight-loss.

Their average daily calories during the semistarvation period was about 1600 calories a day again (still more than lighter life and various other dietary regimes, including this boot camp one). Prior to the study they ate approximately 3200 calories daily (an amount that I find normal and aim to get most of my clients to).What did they get for their trouble?

lethargy (obvious when your not eating enough energy)

irritability

anxiety

dizziness

cold intolerance (requesting heavy blankets even in the middle of summer)

muscle soreness

hair loss

reduced coordination

edema

ringing in the ears

inability to concentrate

no sex drive

obsessed with food

eating with elaborate rituals

added water to their plates to make the food last longer

collected cookbooks, recipes and began cooking

one self mutilated and cut of 3 fingers

one became severely suicidal

Does any of this sound familiar?

Key's study is scarily close to the standard recommendations for weight loss, which is typically a 500-1000 calorie deficit daily for goal of 1-2 pounds a week, combined with moderate exercise. Remember the effects it had (6% of the participants ended up at the psychiatric hospital) and it really makes you wonder why people are encouraged to start diets which actively promote semi-starvation and malnourishment. Sadly people do begin such low calorie regimes, I know I certainly consult with my fair share of people whose psychological state is reflecting the effects of starvation.Diet clubs, boot camps, gyms, old people starved in hospitals and "care"-homes. Find anyone who is restricting food (either calories or food groups), or engaging in excessive exercise that is inappropriate for their needs, and you will find a whole host of the symptoms listed. If someone invites you to boot camp, run for the hills, they may have a gas chamber...

Assumptions about health are a dangerous thing. Someone consumes meat and later in life suffers heart disease therefore the lazy or prejudiced amongst us assume meat is the criminal. Its a pretty lazy assumption as well, for example in a local crime hotspot there may be many police officers. Does that mean they commit the crime? Its possible but more than likely not the case.

Lets look at some of the suspects in disease and ill-health.

We have meat consumption as suspect number 1. Its possible that consumption of meat may play a part, especially processed meats, but as I pointed out previously in Dietary Bigotry

Public Health Nutr. 2002 Feb;5(1):29-36.Mortality in British vegetarians.Appleby PN, Key TJ, Thorogood M, Burr ML, Mann J.SourceImperial Cancer Research Fund, Cancer Epidemiology Unit, The Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, UK. appleby@icrf.icnet.ukAbstractOBJECTIVE:To compare the mortality of British vegetarians and non-vegetarians.DESIGN:Analysis of original data from two prospective studies each including a large proportion of vegetarians--the Oxford Vegetarian Study and the Health Food Shoppers Study. Standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) compared with the population of England and Wales were calculated from deaths before age 90 for vegetarians and non-vegetarians in each study. Death rate ratios (DRRs) for vegetarians compared with non-vegetarians within each study were calculated for each of 14 major causes of death.SETTING:UK.SUBJECTS:Twenty-one thousand men and women aged 16-89 years at recruitment, including more than 8,000 vegetarians.RESULTS:SMRs for all causes of death were significantly below the reference level of 100 in both studies: 52 (95% confidence interval (CI) 49-56) based on 1,131 deaths in the Oxford Vegetarian Study and 59 (57-61) based on 2,346 deaths in the Health Food Shoppers Study. For all causes of death, the DRR for vegetarians compared with non-vegetarians was close to one in both studies: 1.01 (95% CI 0.89-1.14) in the Oxford Vegetarian Study, 1.03 (0.95-1.13) in the Health Food Shoppers Study.CONCLUSIONS:British vegetarians have low mortality compared with the general population. Their death rates are similar to those of comparable non-vegetarians, suggesting that much of this benefit may be attributed to non-dietary lifestyle factors such as a low prevalence of smoking and a generally high socio-economic status, or to aspects of the diet other than the avoidance of meat and fish.

So that kind of shifts the finger of suspicion somewhat. Who are the other suspects? Processed foods, lack of education, genetics, stress, smoking, alcohol intake, malnutrition and other lifestyle factors seem to be at the scene of the crime and should be considered before convicting meat consumption.

'It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.'

Yesterdays post was about Dietary Bigotry which remineded me a little of that bit from the truckers chapel in the film Religulous in which the religious trucker threatens "you start disputing my god...then you gota problem".

As I said yesterday, I'm pretty liberal and am more than happy for anyone to have a faith be it religious, dietary or in fact anything they chose. Its not my place to correct or point out the error of anyones ways. We all have a personal right to make our own minds up.

However, yet again Gazza the Vegan is back pouting is hatred of my diet, the fact that he doesn't know my diet is a tad worrying but what the hell, he loves making assumptions anyway so lets join him.

The paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a modern nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various hominid species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic era—a period of about 2.5 million years which ended around 10,000 years ago with the development ofagriculture and grain-based diets. In common usage, such terms as the "Paleolithic diet" also refer to the actual ancestral human diet.[1][2]Centered on commonly available modern foods, the "contemporary" Paleolithic diet consists mainly of fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, fungi,roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, potatoes, refined salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.[1][3][4]

And the Standard American Diet (SAD) which is more a Western Pattern Diet is described as;

The Western pattern diet, also called Western dietary pattern or the meat-sweet diet, is a dietary habit chosen by many people in developed countries, and increasingly in developing countries. It is characterized by high intakes of red meat, sugary desserts, high-fat foods, and refined grains.[1] It also typically contains high-fat dairy products, high-sugar drinks,[2] and higher intakes of processed meat.The term is used to describe this pattern of diet in medical literature, regardless of where the diet is found, and is often contrasted with the "prudent" diet,[vague] which has higher levels of fruits, vegetables, whole-grain foods, poultry and fish.[3] Other dietary patterns described in the medical research include "drinker" and "meat-eater" patterns.[4] Because of the variability in diets, individuals are usually classified not as simply "following" or "not following" a given diet, but instead by ranking them according to how closely their diets line up with each pattern in turn. The researchers then compare the outcomes between the group that most closely follows a given pattern to the group that least closely follows a given pattern.

Not really the same are they, lots of processed meats (which I agree are bad, never have seen a corn beef cow in a field), refined grains and its also debatable where the read meat comes from...I'd imagine its more than likely it won't be pasture raised as it would be in the paleo plan.

Now Veganism is referred to by wikipedia as;

Veganism (/ˈviːgənɪzəm/) is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, as well as an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status ofsentient animals. A follower of veganism is known as a vegan.Distinctions are sometimes made between different categories of veganism. Dietary vegans(or strict vegetarians) refrain from consuming animal products, not only meat and fish but, in contrast to ovo-lacto vegetarians, also eggs, dairy products and other animal-derived substances. The term ethical vegan is often applied to those who not only follow a vegan diet, but extend the vegan philosophy into other areas of their lives, and oppose the use of animals or animal products for any purpose.[1] Another term used is environmental veganism, which refers to the rejection of animal products on the premise that the harvesting or industrial farming of animals is environmentally damaging and unsustainable.[2]The term vegan was coined in England in 1944 by Donald Watson, co-founder of the BritishVegan Society, to mean "non-dairy vegetarian"; the society also opposed the consumption of eggs. In 1951 the society extended the definition of veganism to mean "the doctrine that man should live without exploiting animals," and in 1960 H. Jay Dinshah started the American Vegan Society, linking veganism to the Jain concept of ahimsa, the avoidance of violence against living things.[3]

So, no real mention of food quality there but we are expected by Gazza to make the assumption that vegan = health which from the lack of data (he can't find any) is simply a lie. Maybe he wasn't lying initially, maybe his judgement was clouded by his faith. So, all in all a vegan diet may be as health as SAD or it may be as healthy as the paleo diet. Remember I'm not a paleo fan, I just use it for the purpose of this description as its one of the two that Mr Mabs refers to.

So what could we start our vegan day with? I've asked Mr Mabs several times to do you all a post about what he eats but it he hasn't been very forthcoming with it.

Not the ideal start to the day maybe but we're still vegan and doing well.

Elevenses;Lets have a pack of crispsBurt's Chips are 40gram packs is suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Per 100grams is 214kcal. Ingredients are potato, dirty and dangerous sunflower oil and sea salt.

Give yourself a pat on the back, so far you've eaten a pretty processed diet.

Lunch;Lets nip to Pizza Hut and see what we can chow down onThe Thin 'n Crispy crusts, regular pizza sauce, spaghetti marinara sauce, pasta, Italian and French dressings, dessert pizza crust, cherry topping and the icing are all options for vegans. Enjoy!!!

Wheat gluten, also called seitan, wheat meat, mock duck, gluten meat, or simply gluten, is afood made from gluten, the main protein of wheat. It is made by washing wheat flourdough with water until all the starch dissolves, leaving insoluble gluten as an elastic mass which is then cooked before being eaten.Wheat gluten is an alternative to soybean-based meat substitutes such as tofu. Some types of wheat gluten have a chewy or stringy texture that resembles meat more than other substitutes. Wheat gluten is often used instead of meat in Asian, vegetarian, Buddhist, and macrobiotic cuisines.Simulated duck is a common use for wheat gluten.

Sure I've been a tad contentious in making these grand assumptions about a possible vegan diet, however it is just intended to show that while a diet of natural foods is possible on both. Equally its easy to eat a highly processed junk laiden diet no matter what faith you follow.

The moral of the story...don't make assumptions! Oh and leave people to make their own life choices.

I'm all for anyone being able to consume the diet they want to. If your vegan good on you, if your paleo congratulations. If you visit weightwatchers, rather you than me but its your choice. Sure if you seek my advice then I'll give it you (after I've tested you and collected as much data as possible). However, I hate it when someone pushes their beliefs upon me. If someone knocks at my door and tries to convert me to anything I'm usually not too happy about it.

Unsolicited advice isn't always bad, but in general knock on my door and start talking to me about swapping my gas supplier, becoming religious, or swapping my diet and I'll consider it rude. Equally if you message me with no previous contact telling me the error of my ways I'll find it pretty offensive.

And so, once again Gazza the vegan is back telling me the error of my ways. [Check out all the old posts about his twitter campaign] As mentioned before he frequently posts odd statements (often they make little sense) that he later either back tracks from or argues and argues but keeps avoiding the main question I pose. What is that question?

"Gary, where is the statistically significant data that backs up your statements?"

It never appears because it does not exist.

During these twitter debates he interchanges between referring to meat eaters and the SAD (standard american diet), meaning he thinks that someone who eats pasture raised meats is the same as someone munching crisps, pork pies and takeaways, washed down with soft drinks and the odd cigarette. Their is a major difference between someone who follows paleo (remember I'm also not a fan of paleo) and your average American or Brit that sits chowing down on takeaways regularly.

It must be pointed out that whilst those following a less processed vegan diet will no doubt have less incidences of poor health than someone eating cake and crisps it does little to prove the dangers of meat. It just leaves the finger pointing straight at processed foods. Someone eating naturally raised meats who avoids the very same processed foods will also have less risk of disease.

Assuming that all meat eaters suffer poor health because they eat the Standard American Diet is no different to me assuming that all vegans live on bread, cake, soy and diet coke...obviously they don't (no doubt some do). However it is possible to live a vegan diet that is highly processed, so going vegan does not equal health as Mr Mabs claims.

The following study shows that British vegetarians do have low mortality compared with the general population (but remember that the general population eats highly processed foods). Their death rates are similar to those of COMPARABLE non-vegetarians, suggesting that much of this benefit may be attributed to non-dietary lifestyle factors such as a low prevalence of smoking and a generally high socio-economic status, or to aspects of the diet other than the avoidance of meat and fish.

So why the perpetual state of indignation and anger? (remember not I'm not suggesting all vegans and vegetarians are this way, I know many that aren't. Its just that I keep getting tweeted by one or two that are). Well here's a great article about vegan aggression and some other articles about some pretty evil vegans. Should make me glad that Gary hasn't quite got that angry yet in his quest to convert the world to his faith.

My main area of interest in diets is starvation (Mr Mabs seems to assume I'm a paleo fan for some reason) and I have an avid hatred of diets in general. Low calorie (of which veganism is for most people) leads to many many issue which are discussed here

• Some escaped and binged with feelings of guilt (some followed by vomiting)

Social Activities

• Responsiveness, tolerance, happiness, and good humor gradually disappeared, very irritable and with only sarcastic humor remaining.

• Reluctance to participate in group activities. Not wanting to go to work etc and when they do resorting to the above.

• Self-centered and egocentric

• Food central topic of conversation, such as the need to cut back, avoid fats, craving cake or chocolate and discussing it with ones friends.

• Not able to control emotions, tears, tantrums, anger are all hard to control.

So, all in all the obsessive, self centered and bigoted "my diet is better than your diet, even though I don't know about your diet", is very interesting to me (I class it as a symptom of starvation). So for those of you wondering why I don't just ignore him, well its all forming into a fascinating potential research project.

Anyhow whatever your diet, feel free to eat what you like and don't pressure others into joining you unless they express an interest. Do not be a dietary bigot, others beliefs are just as valid to them as yours are to you.

The short answer is "no", the moderately longer answer is "no, as its incredibly high in phytoestrogens, which are plant-based estrogens that mimic estrogen in our bodies. Which given that estrogen dominance is a major factor in breast cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, infertility, and low libido, it makes any food thats high in estrogen public enemy number 1.You may wonder why its allowed to be sold, why soy baby formula that is the equivalent of 4 birth control pills per day is allowed on the market. Profit and marketing is a wonderful thing if your in the business of selling a cheap product for maximum profit, to an unsuspecting public.

So, if someone offers you soy milk in your morning coffee, point out that its soy juice (have you ever seen anyone milking a legume?) and that you have enough estrogen already.

DISCLAIMER!

The material provided here is for educational and informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. The information contained in this site should not be used to diagnose or treat any health problems. Always consult your physician or health care provider, before beginning any nutrition or exercise program. Use of the programs, advice, and other information contained in this site is at the sole choice and risk of the reader.

Created by www.billycraig.co.uk ~ Contact me now to get your own website

Offering nutritional consultation, dietary and health analysis, CHEK practitioner, exercise coach, personal trainer, and neuromuscular therapy services worldwide via online consultation but based in the East Midlands, Derby, Nottingham, Burton areas. Cover all areas including Willington, Repton, Findern, Milton, Duffield, Allestree, Darley Abbey, Littleover, Mackworth, Quarndon, Mickleover, Alvaston, Chellaston, Chaddesden and the surrounding areas. I have clients that travel from all over the UK and Europe so please get in touch to discuss how I can help you.